Finding His Place
by StarshipSailor
Summary: And then it clicked. He’d been fighting his destiny for so long because of a shadow but now he could finally step out and write his own future. ONESHOT...maybe.


**Disclaimer: I DON'T own ANY rights to STAR TREK of old or STAR TREK of new! I'm just not that awesome.**

**Summary:**

**And then it clicked. He'd been fighting his destiny for so long because of a shadow but now he could finally step out and write his own futur**e.

**Story:**

They had just docked. The controlled gravity corridor extended from the spacedock and connected to the Enterprise with a soft click. Jim watched as everyone headed off down the corridor. Groups of people chatting, others still working on PADDs and some already searching out family members at the end of the corridor. Jim had an easy smile on his face as he watched people at the end being greeted by worried loved ones, the injured being taken to the spacedock's medical facilities.

He watched, with a growing smile, as Bones was greeted by a hyper and loving Joanna, lifting the girl in his arms. He turned and looked surprised to see a grudgingly worried Beth walk over to him. The ex-wife actually looked concerned and gave Bones a warming hug. She smiled and snuggled into him, sometime life-threatening situations made you see things more clearly. He hoped for his friends sake that everything turned out alright, they guy always went on about how much he had loved Beth.

Uhura was greeted by her conservative looking mother and father with warming hugs and concerned questions, he could see where she had picked up her cool attitude towards cheap pick-up lines then. Jim noticed how Uhura actually started explaining things excitedly, this whole thing had been like one big scary, atmos-rollercoaster and everyone was so pumped now that they had survived it all. Knowing they had help with everything was a big confidence boost in everyones abilities.

Chekov was greeted by his mother who looked to be crushing him with her hug, his father was lightly complaining for her making a scene with a smile on his face. He only received a glare from her as she held tighter. Checkov just laughed and held his mum close.

Sulu walked over to a young woman and lifted her off the ground, swinging her round. He'd mentioned his fiancé as the one who talked him into joining Starfleet. They where approached by what looked like Sulu's family, everyone was congratulating him for a safe return and helping save earth with the rest of the crew.

Scotty was almost tackled to the floor by the little green-ish guy that had been on Delta Vega with him. The engineer was hitting the alien on it's head but was fighting a smile. They were approached by a Starfleet officer, who shook his hand and introduced him to a science-y looking guy. They walked off deep in conversation; something about Engines and transporting records. The green guy still following them.

Spock and his father kept away from the crowds and were talking quietly in Vulcan. They stood apart and there was not a trace of emotion covering their faces but you could tell by the, only slight, distance between them and the constant eye contact that they were relaxed and welcomed each others company right now. It would be a very hard time for them now, but Jim had seen the way Spock and his father interacted. They would cope, they had each other to help them through this.

Jim's smile faded when it hit home how lonely this job was. While he couldn't wait to have a full ship again, everyone else was just waiting for the chance to be with their loved ones. He didn't have loved ones.

His brother sam, hadn't spoken to him in years because of some stupid fight that landed Jim and their step-dad in jail. His mother had stopped returning his calls when he had been in hospital for almost four months near death due to a bar fight. That had been seven years ago. They had every right to hate him, but it didn't stop the pain of knowing he'd screwed up, that he would never live up to his dad's image.

"Jim!" The acting Captain shook his head from his thoughts and looked up. Someone was running towards him, fighting against the crowds of crewmembers walking out of the corridor.

"Jim!!" He began walking down to who ever was calling him, he really hoped it wasn't some stuck up official tying to get him chucked out of Starfleet. The blond was blindsided by two strong arms wrapping around him and being crushed into a chest, he knew immediately who it was. The voice only proved his thoughts.

"Fuck! You don't do anything by half do you little brother." Jim smirked and held his brother close. He swallowed hard trying not to tear up. He had always looked up to his brother as a kind of substitute father figure, when they had stopped talking it had hurt so much to Jim.

"Well there was that year I grew a shoe size from an eight to an eight-and-a-half." They both laughed and then Jim was being pried away from his brother and pulled into another hug.

An older woman just reaching his nose was hugging the breath right out of him. He smiled and buried his face in her hair. He took a deep breath and could still smell the fresh Iowa air and fruity perfume his mother liked.

"Jimmy! Oh Jimmy, I've been so worried about you. I can't believe Starfleet would send a bunch of cadets out to that. Oh Jimmy I'm so glad you're ok. Please, don't scare your poor mother like that again."

Jim swallowed his tears back and nodded his head, holding her closer. He had never really felt close to her. She had tried to hide it but he could always see the shodow of his father in her eyes. She had hugged him before but he had never felt this close to her.

"I promise mom." They stayed like that and Jim could feel his bother's comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Mom…Do you think I made him proud this time? I really tried, you know? I tried to think like he would have." He whispered into her hair. Finally showing that he did care about what she thought of him, of how his father would have seen him. His mother pulled away a little so she could see his face and she smiled at him, cupping his cheeks with her hands.

"He would be so proud of you. I bet he always has been. You probably scared the heavens out of him for a few years but he knows you were just trying to find yourself…And now you have Jimmy, you finally found who you are supposed to be. Please don't smother that person by trying to be like your father. He wouldn't want a carbon copy, he'd want a son who found his own way."

The three of them hugged again and Jim finally felt the universe settle down around him. She was right; captaining the Enterprise was where he was supposed to be, what he was supposed to be doing. This is how his life should be. Captain of the Enterprise, friend to his crew and loved by his family.

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Ok so this is my first time writing on and I would really like to see what you think. I have ideas for this turning into a sort of short chaptered series thing; showing how Kirk builds up the friendships we know are there in the later years. Any thoughts? Is the series thing a good idea? Is it kind of crap? Let me know.


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